"most difficult unit to paint" Topic

OK I know every gamer will nominate a unit from a period they are interested in & probably discount others.
And there is an issue with scale (are 28s harder to paint than 6mms?).
But can we come up with some kind of consensus?
WW2 German pea dot camouflague?
Heraldic devices on an armoured knight?
Acres of pinstriping and Austrian knots on 1815 Nassauers?
What do you think?

Pea dot is not so difficult – and it looks OK even if you get it slightly wrong.

Heraldry is OK if you have transfers. Hand painting is difficult but there is seldom any need to do this.

Napoleonic uniforms are a nightmare and I do not know of any easy shortcuts. Worse still, there are thousands of experts who delight in telling you that you have done something wrong.
….For me Napoleonics

Some people will be good at some stuff while other good at somthing different.

I think the hardest for most people is painting shapes like heraldic animals. Any scheme that requires a pattern can be improved upon with practice but acctual drawing and painting realistic shapes is very difficult to learn and even harder to master, especialy on small areas like shields.

Eras like Napoleonics or 7yrs war aren't hard, just time consumming.

Anything Tartan !

Peadot is easy, even uniform tartan is easy (non uniform isn't)

Gauls are the worst as they wear really hard stuff to paint like checks, and every single one has to be different…

If I never have to paint a Gaul again it won't be too soon.

"Heraldry is OK if you have transfers. Hand painting is difficult but there is seldom any need to do this."

There is when you might have four quarters of barding, a shield, sometimes a helm and perhaps the surcoat which might bear arms.

It is something which you get used to though…
link

Perry Samurai …

I hate painting Samurai to start with but Perry Samurai are near impossible for me.

Actually I was wondering about feathers.
Various pre-Columbian Amerindian warriors of Winged Hussars for example.

French Napoleonics are very time consuming.

Nappys (Napoleonics) for me- a real PITA. I did Russians for someone years ago, and they put me off Nappys since.

Any unit dressed predominantly in white is most difficult for me to start and finish.

Freehand heraldry is no problem for me. The design elements were all standardized, essentially being pictographs.

Gauls are the worst as they wear really hard stuff to paint like checks, and every single one has to be different…

Amen.

IMO, Samurai for sure.

With Naps you do have a lot of lace, but all the figures are the same making production line work very easy.

Free-handing heraldic devices can be tricky, but much of the rest of the figure in mail or plate can be pretty easy.

Samurai you have the difficult black armor, free-hand patterns on the clothing, tons of lace and each figure is different.

May also depend on the sculpting…some of the better sculptors can make some difficult items easier to paint.

I used to paint for some of the guys in my game group. The only figs I ever gave back incomplete were 28mm Samurai. I could not even paint them to my own rather low standard.

Probably Napoleonics – bright white straps needing black lining against various uniform colors, blanket/greatcoat rolls, backpacks, & sword/bayonet frogging; brass/tinned buttons on cuffs, lapels, & false or real pockets; piping on collars, lapels, & cuffs. And, to top it all off – you will need to do this many times over – for all armies.

At least with Samurai & Waffen SS/Fallschirmjagers in various camo patterns, the other side doesn't need to have as much work – you know Koreans in white or Mongols in drab; US or Soviets in basic colors.

Ancients & Medievals aren't so bad, because they aren't as uniform – maybe armies like Imperial/Late-Romans are, but for the most part, they aren't as exacting. Plus, the hardest stuff are shield patterns – for which there are enough transfers/decals available. Thanks LBM for the Hoplite shield transfers! (& Napoleonic & other period flags/standards) Regards, Dean

Hands down Napoleonic Highlanders. Bloody Kilts!

On second thought – US WW2 – what color is khaki?

I'd go with nappy highlanders. It isn't the kilts, which are still a pita, but the socks and the hat bands which suck the most. on 15s it isn't so bad. on 28s it is a nightmare.

Samurai were without question the most time consuming minis I've painted, but I enjoy them. Perry samurai are really hard to paint, they don't seem to have the usual level of sharpness I'd expect from those guys.

My least favorite thing to paint was probably some yellow armored space marines- over black primer…

Yeah that was about 20 years ago, before I knew there were other colors of primer out there :P

So my answer is yellow minis, followed by red ones.

If you use cel vinyl, or the GW foundation paints, neither yellow nor red are any harder to paint than any other colour. I chose Iyanden when I did my eldar.

Tartan is easy compared to Landsknechts.

I think the most difficult figure to paint is an early Renaissance Gendarme on fully barded horse. No simple heraldry there, no sir! Those poor horsies carried billboards!

For me, it's any unit where the clothing isn't uniform. I've tried the method where you use the same color for one figure's hat, another figure's trousers, the next figure's coat, etc., but this just screws up my basic rhythm and method of painting and I always seem to miss something. Add in things like stripes and checks (Gauls, Celts, Landsknechts, kilts, etc.) and it just becomes incredibly tedious. Sure, painting the same shade of blue on 200 ACW Union coats can be boring after a while, but it's NOT tedious and it can go pretty quickly if you're painting groups of figures in the same pose. (After a few figures, you know all of the nooks and crannies of any particular pose and things speed up considerably.)

As mainly a WWII wargamer who hasn't painted any Napoleonics since an Airfix Collector's Series Hussar nearly 20 years ago, I'd have to say Napoleonics and previous eras of fancy uniforms would be the hardest in my estimation. Hardest as in the most effort with all the belts and facings and different colours.

It's one main reason I always enjoy looking at pics of people's miniatures from these eras.
--
Tim

I hated doing Napoleonics and finally quit. 7YW was annoying too. Never even bothered trying to do Highlandes.

It's got to be Samuri. 15mm Dixons are the only army I ever sold unpainted. There are so many choices each of which must be tastefully and artistically done… Nothing gets done.

Tartans… No probs, just keep the lines straight. Medieval Shields… No probs, just remember not to put color on color, metal on metal, or fur on fur. Toss in a bit of heraldic animal or helmet and you're good to go. Nappies… No probs, just color in the lines and read the right references. Boring, but do-able.

Samuri though… The silks alone with little flowers and deep color changes can drive you mad!

I'll agree with Martin Rapier and PH Lewis. Irregular units are the biggest pain there is. I love and hate doing them at the same time. Its for the same reason as well. Their very "irregular" nature. Whereas more "uniform" for lack of a better word, units like ACW Union. Napoleonics, etc. Doing units that have differing colored clothing, patterns, etc are a real PITA.

I usually simplify this by picking three or four colors and working them in relays on different details. I process paint, which means I work a single detail on aseveral minis before moving on to the next detail. This means that I usually pick a detail to start with like shirts or tunics, pants, whatever, then move to the next detail, switching colors or patterns as I go. It helps but it's still a ton more time consuming than slapping one color on and moving on.

irregulat colours within a unit, just 'cos it takes longer, apart from that biggest PITA is black clad units or white clad units, difficult to pull off well.

Lozenge cammo on a Hannover CL.III

mjc

Perry Samurai:
link

I've been painting them for years and they never look quite as good as my other miniatures. It's not that they're hard to paint, it's just that they're so time consuming. It takes me 4 times longer to paint samurai. You also need to limit yourself to the amount of detail. The detail you can choose to paint is almost limitless.

-Steve
cavalcadewargames.com
nycjadie.wordpress.com

But can we come up with some kind of consensus?

Seriously, no.